


I've Got A Crush On... I've Gotta Crush You Now

by StephieBat



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, arkos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-16 07:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5819791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephieBat/pseuds/StephieBat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perhaps it was taboo to want this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Season 1, Chapter 8 "Players and Pieces"

"It's difficult to come out of a battle unscathed," Pyrrha observed from her locker.

Jaune looked up at the warrior, eyes roving over her polished armor, and scoffed. "Is that your way of apologizing?"

She shut the metallic door without speaking and he resumed his needlework on his torn sweatshirt. The clacking of her boots reached him as she moved to join him on the bench. "I don't condone giving women unwanted attention," she said as she sat beside him, wary of the contents strewn about the sewing kit between them. "I also saved you from a dangerous fall. I'm not sorry for that."

Across the pair, armor was piled up in Jaune's open locker. The wear that discolored the dented set was obvious from where she sat. Pyrrha glanced back over at him to assess the damage she had caused with Miló. The definition that his snug undershirt revealed, however, distracted her.

Without the bulk of his outermost layer, it was apparent that Jaune had been training. Or, at least, he kept in shape. A sudden burst of heat pooled in her cheeks and she forced her gaze to his hands. Mortified, she wished she could blame her fidgeting on the steam from the showers.

In an attempt to steady her spiked heart rate, Pyrrha watched him slip black thread through his sweatshirt. His motions were methodical. Skilled. Surely, he had mended many garments before, though his clothes bore no apparent patchwork. She gave a slight grimace. Perhaps he had been afforded new clothes for the school year in addition to his uniform. "I _am_ sorry that I ruined your combat gear."

"Twice," he grumbled as he finished backstitching the first slash in the cloth. "Look at you," he grit out as he bit off the end of the secured thread. "Not even a scratch."

"Yes." She smoothed her hands over her leg armor and leaned forward. His eye was hard to catch when he was preoccupied. "But I didn't start out so fortunate, Jaune."

He busied himself with rethreading his hand needle. "Oh yeah? Can't imagine you'd ever get beat up by a tree."

"Well, maybe not twice," Pyrrha supplied with a grin.

Jaune barked out a hollow laugh. "You'll never know my pain, Pyrrha. Trees are unforgiving."

Bringing a hand to hover over her mouth, she couldn't help but join him.

Wide-eyed cerulean blue collided with apple green. Finally, he set down his sewing to look at her. "You… you really think I'm funny?"

"Of course," she managed between staggered breaths. It was hopeless, now, to hide her blush.

He smiled and continued to hold her gaze. "Well then, we're going to have a beautiful partnership."

Pyrrha's chuckles mellowed into a warm smile that matched his own. "I agree. Thank you for letting me on your team."

His sweatshirt all but forgotten, he shifted towards her and nearly toppled the sewing kit over. "So you weren't kidding."

She blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"A-About me being a leader," he stammered.

Her smile returned. "I sense that you're an honorable fighter, Jaune. While simple, your weapons are respectable and more civilized than the contraptions that many students carry around. You're also quite… charming. A team leader needs your kind of determination."

If he hadn't taken notice of her flushed face before, she might as well have confessed how fond she already felt of him then and there.

"Determination? Really?"

Her lips gave a wry twist and she arched a brow. He really didn't know?

"Oh." He coughed and ran his fingers through his mop of blond hair. "You mean Weiss."

"You came here today and sought out your goal, then seized an opportune moment."

"But she totally blew me off!" he exclaimed. "And didn't you say you don't approve?"

"Well," she began with a sigh. Why was she encouraging this? "You were invading her personal space. Just simply change tactics and… adjust."

"Right," he affirmed. "I've really got to woo her!"

He wouldn't take her words the way she wanted, but that didn't stop her from crossing her arms and liberally pushing up on her breastplate. Whatever it took to get him to notice her was worth risking her pride for. When he turned to pick his needle and thread back up, however, his eyes never once dropped to her chest.

She slouched, visibly deflating at his lack of interest, and let out another sigh.

Perhaps it was taboo to want this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was cruel the way nature mocked him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after Season 3, Chapter 12: End of the Beginning

As Ren and Nora slumbered by the embers, Ruby hardly glanced Jaune’s way when he wandered past her, straying from their campsite. Jaune knew she would keep to her night watch. If anything, they would catch up to him when day broke.  
  
In the dense forest, dried leaves that had been blanketed by that winter’s snow peeked out in the budding spring. Their stubborn existence taunted him, a torturous reminder of what could have been. What should have been.  
  
He bent down and plucked a ruddy brown leaf from the ground. He resumed his aimless trek and twirled the stem between his fingers. It began to chip despite his careful handling. Something that had been so vibrant and full of life was now cracked and muted. It was cruel the way nature mocked him.  
  
Just as his breathing was becoming labored from his trek, he came upon a clearing. The waking beams of the sunrise streamed into the patch of earth, free from the thick canopy of foliage, and greeted him. He settled at the center of the hideaway to rest, desperate to bathe in the warm rays and stave off the early morning chill.  
  
He began to doze, eyelids growing heavy, when a commotion snapped him to his peaked senses. Sitting upright, letting the shredded remains of a leaf fall from his hand, he peered around the woods. There was a rustling of leaves, as if an Ursa was prowling in the shadows, the disturbance too large to be natural.  
  
Jaune gripped the hilt of his sword, prepared to unsheathe it, but was unbalanced by a torrent of wind. With the swift air currents came a flurry of leaves so thick, the surrounding forest became indiscernible. Light, more blinding than the rising sun, exploded before him with a force that bowled him over.  
  
Gasping, he couldn’t tell if the fall or the weight on his chest was what made it hard to breathe. Someone was on top of him. If only the world would stay still enough to let him see who had attacked him.  
  
The leaves began to settle as the clamor they had brought died down. He blinked. “Pyrrha?”  
  
“Oh, Jaune!” Lips, warm and wanting, enveloped his once again as she leaned into him. Star warrior Pyrrha Nikos—his fallen partner, his best friend—was sitting on top of him in a desperate lip lock. He couldn’t believe it.  
  
Since she had marched off into battle that hellish night at Beacon, he hadn’t stopped daydreaming about this tender touch. His heavy heart had ached for her every day since. Her acute absence had been torture.  
  
Now, with the girl who had haunted his dreams back in his arms, he tried to get as much of her as possible. He sighed, letting her sag into him as their breath and limbs mingled.  
  
He knew it. Until someone showed him a body, he refused to believe that Pyrrha was truly dead.  
  
Pyrrha leaned back, hand cradling the side of his face, and held his gaze. “We don’t have much time,” she said lowly.  
  
“When will I see you again?” Jaune asked, encircling her waist more snugly. Moisture slipped down his face, falling past his chin and down his neck. He hadn’t realized he had been crying.  
  
“I need more of the Fall Maiden’s power,” she told him. “I have a fragment, Jaune. That’s all I’m holding onto.”  
  
“You came to me,” he breathed, rising to meet her lips once more. She let him have it, succumbing to the way he moved against her.  
  
His hands tangled in her hair, but no matter how deeply he kissed her, how urgently he held onto her, she was swept away with a roaring rustle of leaves. The heat of her lingered over him, but when he opened his eyes she was gone. She had left him burrowed in the grass, poured over with the rising sunlight, bereft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so heartbroken over the finale of season 3. Recently, I also lost a friend, so some of Jaune’s sorrow really resonates with me right now. You could say I’m in complete denial — if this fic is any proof, I don’t believe Pyrrha is truly dead. She can’t be. I really did love her character.
> 
> As always, a review is worth a thousand likes. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who follow my writing, you'll notice I often use song lyrics as fic titles. This one comes from "Crush" by Sleigh Bells. This is also my first RWBY piece, so feedback would be greatly appreciated! A comment is worth a thousand kudos.


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